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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Gym time (Llama)

I joined a gym. I joined a gym! I joined a gym?

I've long held a distasted for what one friend once called "picking stuff up and then putting it down." But given that I'm now 34 and completely out of shape, I figured I should make an effort to take care of my body lest I end up at 80 with multiple tubes entering and exiting various orifices. So I joined a gym.

As most of you know, I have, in the past, made multiple efforts to exercise; typically involving push-ups, with a few other various activities (situps, jogging, weights...) thrown in for good measure. But I never stick with it. I never even really get close. The summer of disc golf was my most successful attempt, but that effort faded with the leaves.

So this time I'm actually financially engaged; perhaps that will add an additional impetus. One of the biggest obstacles to me joining in the past was this fear of appearing weak in public... by going to the gym with a bunch of muscle heads, I would, at least at first, look like that scrawny kid getting sand kicked in his face. Cleverly enough, all of the machines are designed so that the actual amount of weight being lifted is easily visible only to the lifter. So, I'm the only one that knows that I'm benching only 80 lbs and not 200 like Boris the Stud at the next machine. Of course, Boris' arms are thrice as big as mine, but never mind that!

Also, I've added aerobics to my regimen; in fact, it's what I'm starting with. I run or bike for 40 minutes, and then hit a few of the weight machines.

My first day, after using only 3 machines, I felt so bad that ran to the bathroom to puke up my lunch. Not a pleasant experience. So the following day I avoided the weights altogether and just ran. Then yesterday I returned to the machines after biking, and I was able to comfortably use 3 of them... although I didn't max out my muscles like I did the first day... rather, I chose a relatively light load. The idea, according to my boss the doctor, is to first get my body in good enough condition that it can take the stress of heavy weights. That involves cardio, and just getting it used to the range of motion of the weight machines I will be using. Then, after about two weeks, I should be able to start weight training in earnest.

2 comments:

u pucked? really? awe...poor sweet brother, i'm sorry, i'm gonna send u a site that might help, it will teach u how to build from the ground like that i weight training and not to turn into boris the stud, (casue well...yucky, i hate wash boards) but health is a good thing

Hmmm, must be something in the global air this time of year? I finally decided to try getting back on the exercise wagon again myself . . . not that I'm paying for it monetarily or anything. I thought I ought to dust off the running shoes and get going again with jogging. I hate running. I hate jogging. Cannot stand it. Never liked it and never been good at it. But, it is the only thing I've ever really found that is effective at getting my cardiovascular system up to snuff and it also helps with weight gain/loss (which is slowly but surely creeping back).

I've only been four times (started week before last, so once every third night or so), but each time I've added 4/10 of a mile. I started at 0.4, then 0.8, 1.2 and then 1.6 night before last. The odd length is due to that being the distance traveled jogging one length of the street we live on now. I'm adding distance at a rate much faster then last time I started jogging (I'm a bit lighter than I was back then).

I've never been good at distance running, my Germanic blood just isn't designed for it. But, hopefully I'll keep it up and get back up to the 3.2 mile range again. I can't really do much more than that, because I just can't fathom jogging for more than 30 minutes at a time. My goal is actually to get my mile time down to the 7 to 7/12 minute range, so that I can be done in less than 30. May I should invest in some sort of musical device or jogging friendly radio, maybe that would help entertain me?